Garrett Confident In Escobar's Development

Gavin Escobar has just four catches and a touchdown on the season

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In ten games, the Dallas Cowboys’ second round pick, tight end Gavin Escobar has just four catches, 65 yards and a touchdown--not exactly the impact we imagined when Dallas picked him out of San Diego State, immediately lauding his athleticism and pass catching abilities.

But head coach Jason Garrett says we shouldn’t rush to judgement where Escobar is concerned, particularly considering the other folks vying for opportunities on that offense.

“Certainly his production hasn’t been overwhelming,” Garrett said, per ESPN Dallas. “When we evaluate one of the things you try to do--and is something I thought about a lot as a player, I emphasize this a lot to young players--is if there’s an Escobar tape, and the Escobar tape has nothing to do with anybody else’s tape, these are Escobar’s plays, ‘How’d I do on my plays?’ If we evaluate the Escobar tape, he’s done some good things. And what we think as coaches is, ‘He’s done good things, let’s keep giving him more opportunities.’ One of the challenges that he has is Dez Bryant, Jason Witten, DeMarco Murray, Terrance Williams, Miles Austin, Cole Beasley--when some of these other guys emerge, they’re competing for opportunities.”

Part of the reason Escobar has been used so sparingly of late is because, a year before they drafted him, they drafted James Hanna out of Oklahoma.

“I think James does some things better at this point,” Garrett said. “His experience certainly helps him. If you look at Hanna from last year, he came in as a sixth-round pick middle of the year last year. He kind of started to emerge as a guy who could do some stuff for us and made some plays down the stretch. Development happens and those opportunities happen and each one of the pieces we have to get going a little bit more.”

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